“I didn’t see him,” Josh said, “but it’s my guess that he’s Starbuck. No one that I’ve ever talked to has actually seen him. He’s a hermit.”
“And the child?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never heard of her, but then I haven’t been in Eternity long.”
She watched him put bacon on bread. “Maybe your brother knows.”
“Maybe,” Josh said in a way that let her know that was the end of that conversation. He handed her a sandwich and a cup of very strong tea.
“Where were you before you came to Eternity?” She watched his face and was sure that she saw a flicker of pain go across it. What had he done that caused such a look? What had he done that made him keep his past a secret? Carrie was well aware that his children had been instructed to never tell anything about where they had come from or where they had been. Poor Dallas was so confused about what she could and could not tell that sometimes she thought she wasn’t supposed to mention Carrie’s brothers to Carrie.
“I’ve been many places,” Josh said, and Carrie knew he wasn’t going to say any more.
The intimacy was broken, for he was reminding her that she was an outsider. If she sometimes looked at the children and couldn’t imagine a life without them, she knew that Josh didn’t feel that way about her. To him she was someone who was going to leave in a few days, and he wasn’t about to share any secrets with her.
In silence, Carrie ate her sandwich and stared at the fire, no longer attempting to make conversation. She chastised herself, for what had she expected, that she’d help him when he needed it and he’d say that he had misjudged her? Was he going to tell her that she wasn’t an empty-headed piece of fluff after all? If she hadn’t come to Eternity, if she hadn’t played a trick on Josh in the first place, Tem wouldn’t have decided to go after rattlesnakes, and Josh wouldn’t have needed to climb down a ravine and—
“No stories about your brothers tonight?” Josh asked.
She knew he was trying to lighten the silence between them, but it didn’t help. “Why don’t you tell me about your brother?” She said it with more venom than she’d meant.
Josh looked at the fire for a moment. “He’s the best farmer in the world. Perfect corn; perfect beets. Everything in straight, even rows. I don’t think a bug would dare attack his plants.”
> “Why does he have your horse?” Carrie didn’t have to be told that the black stallion was Josh’s horse. A man and a horse don’t work as well as Josh and the stallion did unless they had spent a great deal of time together and had learned to trust each other.
“I sold it to him,” Josh said softly. “Or rather, gave it to him as partial payment for the farm.”
Carrie tried to hide her frown at that. It didn’t sit well with her that one brother would take another brother’s horse, no matter what the reason. Carrie wanted to ask more questions, but she didn’t because she knew she’d be rebuffed once again.
After more long minutes of silence, Josh got up and came to her side of the fire. “It will be daylight soon, so we’d better get some sleep.”
Carrie yawned. “I could sleep for a week.” When she saw Josh looking at her oddly as she stretched, she realized that her blanket was slipping. She started to draw it more fully over her breasts, but then she stopped, for she didn’t really care. He was the one who had decided to reject her and was continuing to reject her, not the other way around.
Stretching out on the sandy floor beside Tem, she put her arms around him and closed her eyes, opening them when Josh lay down on the other side of his son. Carrie looked into the dark eyes of her husband and forgot her anger. Reaching out her hand, she started to touch the bloody place on the side of his head.
“Don’t,” Josh whispered, sounding as though he were in pain.
Carrie left her hand where it was, hovering over his temple.
Josh looked at her a moment longer, so close yet so far away, then he turned on his other side, facing away from her, and unbidden, sharp tears came to Carrie’s eyes at his rejection of her. “Good night,” she said with as little emotion in her voice as she could manage. Josh didn’t reply.
Chapter Nine
Carrie awoke with a smile. She was warm and dry, and she knew that Tem was safe beside her, and, too, there was a warm hand on her cheek. With her eyes still closed, she turned toward the hand.
“Carrie,” Josh whispered, and she slowly opened her eyes. He was dressed and kneeling beside her, touching her. It was cold in the cave, and although the rain had stopped, it was still dark outside. When she smiled at him, he moved back from her abruptly.
“I don’t bite,” she said dreamily, then raised her bare arm out of the blanket. “Is everything all right?”
“I have to find the searchers and tell them Tem is safe.”
Carrie’s eyes opened wide at that. “I forgot all about them. Do you think they’ve been looking all night?”
“If I know my brother, he didn’t go into town until it stopped raining. He wouldn’t get himself wet merely because a child was lost.”
Carrie gaped at him in disbelief, but Josh’s face showed that he wasn’t going to answer the questions that ran through her mind. She’d already found out that he didn’t answer questions about his brother.
“I want you to stay here with Tem, and I’ll come back for you after I’ve found the searchers.” He hesitated. “Will you do that?”